Enhancing Understanding of Models through Analysis.

Simulation is used increasingly throughout research and development for many purposes. While in many cases the model output is of primary interest, often it is the insight gained through the simulation process into the behavior of the simulated system that is the primary benefit. This insight can come from the actions of building and validating the model as well as observing its behavior through animations and execution traces or statistical analysis of simulation output. However, much that could be of interest may not be easily discernible through these traditional approaches, particularly as models become increasingly complex. The authors suggest several possibilities of how to obtain such insights. These analyses have other obvious uses including aid in debugging, verification and documentation. The authors, however, are primarily interested in how these analysis techniques can be used to help modelers gain additional insights into the models they are using or constructing. The discussed techniques are used with significant benefit within computer science and software engineering; the authors believe these techniques can also serve simulation well. The authors' experience with these techniques thus far has involved discrete event simulations; their potential benefit with other model representations and implementation approaches has not yet been explored.